Roots Summer Leadership Academy (RSLA) uses a demanding performing and visual arts/math integrated curriculum to achieve academic and arts proficiency, boost self-esteem and teach leadership skills for students aged 8 -16. During our 3-week summer camp, students engage in dance, spoken word (including playwriting, directing, improvisation & performance theory), music, visual arts and STEM classes to write, produce and perform a 30-minute musical organized around an annual theme, with new songs & choreography each year.
RLSA lead instructors are award-winning, working performing and visual artists who hold advanced degrees and/or are certified K-12 teachers or university level professors. We integrate national and state core arts standards to help students understand theory and practice while also addressing literacy, math and STEM skills.
At a mandatory parent/student orientation, students complete written skills and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) assessments administered & scored by our Clinical Psychologist. Staff conduct a full Saturday clinic at the end of the 1st week to make recommendations for each student’s remaining camp experience, with parents receiving written assessments and goals. Students are reevaluated on all standards during performance week and personalized evaluations, recommendations and follow up consults for the school year are provided to families.
The NM Black History Organizing Committee (NMBHOC), founded in 2010, is a community benefit organization designed to create coalitions among organizations within the black community to build and strengthen the community from the inside out.
NM has long been considered tri-cultural despite the fact that blacks pre-date statehood. As a result, the state’s 58,000+ black voices are routinely excluded from decision-making and involvement in the political, social and cultural landscape. We use proven arts and assets-based community development strategies to invoke civic dialogue to dismantle racism and promote cross-cultural understanding in order to effect true diversity, equity and inclusion in our state.
Our vision and guiding principles come from the work of Carter G. Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History,” and Ella Jo Baker, one of the principal architects of the Civil Rights Movement, whose Civil Rights era philosophies of community based activism and participatory democracy resonate strongly today in NM.
In pursuit of our commitment to multiculturalism and education, the NMBHOC curates a full year of arts and assets based programming for all ages. From the NM Black History Festival to the Roots Conservatory and other programs, we bring an intergenerational community together to effect change.
1258 Ortiz Avenue, SE #304